After ordering food and beverages at a food service establishment, a consumer is typically either provided with means for carrying their food to a table or for take-out. Typically, a patron is provided with either a flat tray with the items placed thereon, a beverage tray fitted with holes for the placement of beverages only therein, with a conventional paper or plastic bag with the items placed therein, or a combination thereof. Neither the flat tray, the beverage tray, nor the bag provide an effective manner of transporting the food and/or beverages, and especially beverages, because the items are piled upon each other and left generally unsecured and unbalanced. Therefore, a consumer is left struggling to carry and balance the food and/or beverages on their own, or to make multiple trips, often times spilling these items or otherwise resulting in general inconvenience. In addition, conventional bags and beverage trays do not offer a flat and protected surface for eating thereon, presenting further problems for a consumer who wishes to eat at the food service establishment.
It is therefore, desirable, to provide means to more easily and effectively transport food and beverage items. It is also advantageous to provide means for carrying food and/or beverages which is convertible into a placemat for providing a surface to eat on.
While the prior art discloses many different means and apparatus for carrying foods and/or beverages, so far as is known, none of the prior art assemblies resolve these problems in a simple, effective and highly advantageous manner, as in the present invention.